The evolving function of a port, and many logistical, technological, and economic uncertainties under which it must operate, make the planning and design of these complex socio-technical infrastructures very challenging. A Master Plan of a port is the instrument by which the port's (expansion) strategy in the marketplace is defined. Therefore, a Port Master Plan needs to be dynamic and responsive to all external developments during its lifetime. The existing Master Planning approach is static and as a result it is poorly equipped to deal with many uncertainties in the port and shipping industry. A new approach is required. This article proposes an adaptive approach to planning that combines elements of Assumption-Based Planning (ABP), developed in the early 1990s, and Adaptive Policymaking (APM), developed in 2001. It identifies in a structured way the uncertainty in an existing plan, and subsequently improves its robustness and adaptability through taking actions either in the planning stage or by preparing actions in advance that can be taken as the uncertainties resolve themselves. The article illustrates this approach by applying it to the current plan for Maasvlakte 2, the ongoing port expansion of Rotterdam in The Netherlands. The value of this proactive and dynamic approach lies in its manner of dealing with uncertainties. It leads planners to recognize vulnerabilities in a plan and incorporate strategies for dealing with them, adapting to new developments, and building in capacity for taking advantage of new opportunities. The objective of using this adaptive approach is to realize a Master Plan robust across many futures, so that the port can meet the requirements of its stakeholders during its entire lifetime.

Long-term sustainable port development requires accounting for the intrinsic values of ecosystems. However, in practice, ecosystem considerations often only enter the planning and design process of ports when required by an Environmental Impact Assessment. At this late stage, most of the design is already fixed and opportunities to minimize and restore ecosystem impacts are limited. In this paper, we adopt a large-scale, ecosystem perspective on port development with the aim to identify ecosystem-based design alternatives earlier and throughout the planning and design of a port’s marine infrastructure. We present a framework, termed the ‘ecosystem-based port design hierarchy’ (EPDH), to identify ecosystem-based alternatives at four hierarchical design levels: 1) alternatives to port developments, 2) port site selection, 3) port layout design, and 4) design of structures and materials. In applying the EPDH framework retrospectively to a case study of port expansion in Tema, Ghana, we establish that ecosystem considerations played only a limited role in identifying and evaluating alternatives at all four design levels in the case study, whereas more eco-friendly alternatives in terms of port layouts, structures, and materials are identified using the EPDH framework. This reveals that opportunities for ecosystem-friendly port designs may have been missed and demonstrates the need for and the potential added value of our framework. The framework can assist practitioners in earlier and wider identification of ecosystem-based alternatives for a port’s marine infrastructure in future seaport developments and, hence, represents an important step towards more sustainable port designs.

The dynamic and ever-increasing complex nature of a port system involves a variety of stakeholders with a broad spectrum of involvement and objectives. In the port master planning, to fulfill the objectives of the various stakeholders and manage conflicts and controversies, a stakeholder analysis is carried out. However, effective and timely engagement of the key stakeholders in the planning process is not an easy task. This paper presents a framework of stakeholder analysis for the case study of the Multi-Purpose Port of Isafjordur in Iceland to underpin the master planning process. The framework deals with a systematic procedure of identification, grouping and then static mapping of stakeholders by means of the power-interest matrix. Further, the fuzzy logic 3-dimensional decision surface was adopted for dynamic salience mapping of the

Maritime sectors have always dealt with uncertainties and disruptions. The COVID pandemic confronted the cruise industry with profound, wide-ranging, and lasting challenges while disrupting normal operations. Although the cruise industry contributes to the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), resumption and sustainable cruising requires the industry to adapt to the challenges presented. To this end, the paper suggests adaptive actions for the cruise sector to respond to the pandemic and links the actions to the UN SDGs to highlight their sustainable contributions. A system thinking approach is applied and a literature review is conducted to identify suitable adaptive actions. This paper shows the importance of UN SDGs 3, 4 and, in particular, 17 for sustainable cruising. The results of this paper provide support for informed decision-making to increase the cruise industry’s sustainability. This paper recommends that stakeholders: 1- identify drivers and barriers of sustainable cruising, 2- adapt to changes and embrace the UN SDGs, as they provide a platform for realizing sustainability, and 3- use educational programs to improve and transfer knowledge on sustainable cruising between academia and policymakers.

Before you lies the book ‘Ports and Waterways - Navigating the changing world’, written by the Ports and Waterways team, part of the Civil Engineering and Geosciences faculty at Delft University of Technology. It integrates the content of a number of separate lecture notes we used in our teaching activities and updates this information where relevant. The integration reflects our vision that ports and waterways should be viewed as parts of a coherent system that supports waterborne supply chains, and that their integral design and operation is essential.

Recently, flexibility has received much attention from port researchers, designers, and managers. This is because the stability of the competitive environment of the past has been replaced by increasing uncertainty. The current economic crisis and the recent trends in ports and shipping sectors are causing port planners to rethink their approach towards port planning, design, and project evaluation. Attributes such as flexibility and adaptability can provide a port infrastructure system with the capacity to be useful under changing requirements, making it robust in face of uncertainty, lengthening its economic lifetime, and thereby guaranteeing payback on investments. Due to the burgeoning research in the field, new measures, new evaluation methods, and new theories and approaches for incorporating flexibility in large-scale infrastructure design have appeared. Adaptive port planning methods are being advocated in place of traditional planning approaches. ‘Design for obsolescence’ is being suggested as an alternative for ‘building in redundancy’ in port infrastructure design. ‘Flexibility’ and ‘adaptability’ are being added to the list of life cycle properties. Real option methods are being advocated for project evaluation under uncertainty. The objective of this paper is to examine the present trends in the port sector and the current practices in port planning, design, and project evaluation. Having identified the inadequacy of these practices under uncertainty, the paper recommends integrating flexibility in designs and processes. It further suggests that Adaptive Port Planning methods, which include Real Options Analysis for valuing flexibility, are better suited in times of uncertainty than the traditional methods.